ASYLUM N o deception of the weather net- tled us kids more than a prom- ising snow flurry which turned into rain. The period of gray wetness which usually followed was a trying time for us-and for our parents. Sum- mer rains didn't stop us from playing in the street unless they were severe, but cold wetness kept us indoors. It also tempered our dislike for school, which occupied us till the middle of the afternoon. After that we went quite mad. The hallways of our tenement would rumble for the rest of the day to the noise of tramping feet as we wan- dered from one kid's flat to another in search of amusement. I've come to real- ize why our elders objected to the way we negotiated the stairs. They must have been saints to stand it at all. The tiled hallways were quite large and the staircases (sixteen steps in each, I remember, having counted them in- numerable times), which were of iron with marble treads, had no turns in them. There was one to a flight and they paralleled each other. A kid would lean forward over the top of a flight; rattle down it, as he slid his left hand over the banister rail, to the fifth step from the bottom; place his right hand on the newel, and vault the banis- ter. Then he'd take a few quick steps alongside the landing rail; vault it and alight on the fifth step from the top of the next flight; let his feet vi- brate again; and so on. It sounded like this: trrrrrr-thump-clop, clop, clop- thump-trrrrrr-thump-clop, clop, clop. When a troop of us descended, one im- mediately after the other, it tTIust have been hellish. O NE afternoon, toward the end of a week of depressing weather, a group of us was gathered in the hallway outside Augie Taylor's flat. \Ve had just been shooed out of it by his mother, whom we had driven nearly frantic with a boisterous game of cowboys and Indians. "I told youse to keep outta duh front room," said Augie. "Whadda we gon- na do now?" "How about your house?" we said to Zip Melloy. "N at after we busted dat chair yes- terday," said Zip. "De old lady said to keep yuh duh hell out." W e turned to Mike Capodiferra. , We could play on your crokinole board," we said, hopefully. Mike shook his head. "Me old man hid it and said he'd bust it and gimme TO TfiROAT AND . T-E-ET S SAK-E try ø . . . e - II _.... d : .' ."':>;1, "J"I ';,_ f. 'I.". .' ",..V.. .. ,Z l"'_ ' -...,. '. 'i.: .' ..'._v.. . .'Pt :.., ., . - '.' --,:,:-::. .:,,;:::::,:_::'V(i;111" :'^ ' -'e;. ..; . Qr!lH:. ': ::'::: :: ::: ':' :: " ..-.;-., "-.:# ; Jij. '.. :;:> - /J:'::. :} ? .-'::"';"""'>" ...- ....:..:>: ?""?!iiA '- i1 î l f:: ; t%.;f! \;\ ;; ; ,- , r ;l ifj .:'f"" ,. i . * No tobacco in mouth or teeth. Throat-irri- tants checked. True flavor of choice Turkish- Domestic blend revealed. Better for you. . . . YC)llr snloke ..olDes elean UNION MADE ........ .: ,:::,:,:,,;;'" ": ': '.;': ",:::,::::'.:::.," Yl 4-1 . .., ,.., ,'.. -:i . :...,.. V (((f(( ,.. 1 1 ' ((((();- ., . I f((f((fl((ff o.... _. C" I , ..'- to-. (ff(( ". . )- ((((((f . . , .. (((((f '. .. , \. (ff , .) T ((f(/ ..'.... : 51 :-.{ }ir "2. .: